Shirov - Anand, Linares Morelia

commentary by GM Radek Kalod

Shirov and Anand played one of the most interesting games of Morelia Linares so far. Here is a post game commentary by GM Radek Kalod. Our good friends at Novoborsky are doing very nice coverage of Morelia Linares, check it out!

Morelia Linares 2008 reports

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Commented games

Round 1: Topalov - Aronian / Carlsen - Ivanchuk

Round 2: Shirov - Carlsen / Anand - Aronian

Shirov,A (2755) - Anand,V (2799) [B96]

XXV SuperGM Morelia/Linares MEX/ESP (1), 15.02.2008
[commentary by GM Radek Kalod]

1.e4 c5 Shirov has a bad score with Anand. Alexei lost with him a couple of important games already; WCH final in Teheran 2000 or other KO tournaments of FIDE WCh. Shirov once impressed his opinion, Anand being a very unpleasant opponent to him.

2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6

And here comes the Najdorf! We missed it on WCh in Mexico 2007 and here we start with it right on the start.

6.Bg5 6.Be3 is more frequent these days. 6.Bg5 is propagated e.g. by Shirov and Radjabov.

6...e6 7.f4 Formerly the main move was 7...Qb6. Nowadays the situation is changing, for this line demands lot of theoretical knowledge. Thus Anand continues with a standard queen development on c7.

7...Nbd7 [7...Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 and white has a sufficient compensation for the pawn. But the actual praxis shows, that when black knows the originating positions, he draws without much problem. He must really know them or he can also lose in 20 moves. ]

8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 Black develops his QS before castling.

11.Rhe1 Qb6 With this move black finds the right moment for driving the white knight back from the centre.

12.Nb3 The main continuation is 12. Nd5, which tried my team-mate GM Hracek against GM Naumann on the ECh in Dresden 2007. He won that game after a tough fight as you can see on Novoborsky (in Czech). He guesses other continuations are too soft, giving white no advantage. [12.Nd5 Qxd4 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Bxb5 Qc5 15.Nxf6+ Kd8 16.Nxd7 Qxb5 17.Nxf8 Rxf8 18.Qa3 with a very sharp game. Hracek,Z (2613)-Naumann,A (2543)/Dresden GER 2007]

12...Rc8 Sergej Karjakin prefered against Shirov 12...b4. [12...b4 13.Nb1 Be7 14.N1d2 Qc7 15.Qh3 e5 16.Nc4 0-0 with complicated and roughly equal game. Shirov,A (2739)-Karjakin,S (2694)/Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2007]

13.Qh3 Rxc3 Typical sicilian sacrifice. Black does not win immediately but gets only compensation in the weak pawns of whites QS. Blacks often pressure the e4 pawn as well and profit from the weakness of the white king.

14.bxc3 Qc7 The Indian aims for the c3 pawn and covers the e4-e5 threat at the same moment.

15.Kb1 Be7 Before taking the weak pawns or attacking the white king black ends his development. In addition he still defends the advance e4-e5.

16.e5 16. Qg3 to push 17.e4-e5 was interesting. With the normal 16...0-0 black gets in trouble..... Alexei Shirov acts immediately. Would he not, black ends the development and whites sitation becomes critical. [16.Qg3 h6!? (16...0-0?! 17.e5 dxe5 18.fxe5 Nh5 19.Qh4 Bxg5 20.Qxg5 g6 21.g4 ) .17.Bh4 g5 18.fxg5 Rg8 19.Qf2 hxg5 20.Bg3 Qxc3C]

16...dxe5 17.f5 Alexei tries another break-through. His goal is to open the columns for his rooks. [17.fxe5?! Nd5! (17...Nxe5?! 18.Qg3 Bd6 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Qg7 Rf8 21.Be4") 18.Bxe7 Nxc3+ 19.Ka1 Nxd1 20.Rxd1 Kxe7-+]

17...Nd5 17...e4 was interesting too. Vishi Anand centralizes his knight and prepares to involve his KS rook on c8 after Bxe7 Kxe7. [17...e4 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Be2 Bd5÷]

18.Bxe7 Kxe7 19.fxe6 fxe6 20.Qg3 g6 20...Nxc3+ was already possible, but the Indian doesnt haste, the c3 victim cant escape. [20...Nxc3+!? 21.Ka1 g6 22.Rd2 Rc8]

21.Rd2 Rc8 Black gets his last piece ready to start the harvest.

22.Qg5+? But this is already a mistake, Alexei goes off the path. He should try 22.Qh4 with complicated game e.g. [22.Qh4+ N7f6 23.Rf2 e4 (23...Qxc3 24.Ref1 Rf8 25.g3 Qc7 (25...b4?! 26.Qh6 Rf7 27.Be4?) ; 24.Rxf6 Nxf6 25.Bxe4 with unclear game. In such sharp positions ecery minor fault could lead to defeat. ]

22...Ke8 23.Qg4 Nxc3+ 24.Ka1 Bd5 Black already dominates the board. Compare the activity of the pieces!

25.Re3 Nf6 26.Qh4 Qe7 27.Bf1 Bxb3 27....Nce4 was good enough too, but Vishi finds a win here, so he goes for it. [27...Nce4 28.Rde2 Qa3-+]

28.cxb3 Nce4 29.Rb2 Rc1+ 30.Rb1 Qc5 Here Shirov stopped the clock. The machines announce a checkmate in 8, but that is already not the subject of our analyse, black is obviously won.

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